in over the Lions Well Youth Maliek Collins Jersey , that was refreshing. After three weeks of concern and worry, only somewhat alleviated by a win over the New York Giants in the middle, the Dallas Cowboys finally put together a nearly complete game offensively in defeating the Detroit Lions 26-24. And we learned some lessons.The panic may have been just a wee bit overblown.Doubt was certainly reasonable. But for many, things were descending to a point of giving up on the season. All that was left was for the team to tank for as high a draft spot as possible, since one of the biggest needs was a new franchise quarterback, to play for the new head coach and offensive coordinator that would come in next season. A lot of people will still maintain that the repeated statements from Jerry Jones that he has complete faith in his current coaches and QB are just standard Jerryspeak, meant to divert and dissemble, but after this game, maybe it is more justified than we want to admit. Dak can still get ‘er done.Dak Prescott is not going to be putting up 400 yards. But this was a performance that could have been lifted right from his 13-3 rookie regular season. He was solid, didn’t put the ball at much risk, and directed drives when he needed to, especially the game-winning one.Most importantly, he did “cut it loose”. He completed two deep passes, a 37-yard connection with Michael Gallup and that crucial 34-yard completion to Ezekiel Elliott that got Brett Maher in very comfortable range for the winning field goal. Those were mostly air yards, and both were good passes. The questions have lingered about just whether he was able to make those kinds of throws, or just lacked the confidence to take the shots. In this game, he did it, and that is what the team needs going forward. Because the offense doesn’t have to rely solely on the quarterback.Zeke is one of the premier threats in the entire NFL.These numbers for Elliott are going to be talked about a lot. 152 yards on the ground, which of course made him the leading rusher for the game and puts him on pace for 1,704 yards for the season. And his 88 receiving yards also made him Dak’s best target for the day.The first three weeks had us wondering if the coaching staff was just going to squander the obvious value Zeke could have in thepassing game. But against the Lions, it was all done the right way. The screen pass for a touchdown and that long pass at the end showed how to use him in different types of plays, and there was a less spectacular http://www.cowboyscheapauthenticstore.com/deonte-thompson-jersey-cheap , but still important, reception when Prescott got him the ball so he had space to work, and he turned it into a nice five yards after the catch. Most always expected Elliott to have a big year. The question now seems to be just how big it can get.The line looked sharp again.Prescott was only sacked three times, and one of those was him running out of bounds just shy of the line of scrimmage. Another sack was wiped out by a roughing call, with a defensive holding call on the play as well. And there was the beautiful blocking in the run game and on that screen play (Joe Looney can motor as he blocked one defender then stayed ahead of Zeke to make sure he got in). If they can put together performances like this the rest of the way, good things are likely to happen.They said they were going to reduce the receiver rotation, and they meant it.The receiver targets make for an interesting set of numbers. Elliott was targeted four times (and caught all of them). And there were four other players who each had five balls thrown their way: Cole Beasley, Geoff Swaim, Allen Hurns, and Michael Gallup. There were only three other passes the entire game for Dallas, and they were aimed at three different players. That sure looks like a viable blueprint going forward. Gallup may emerge as a deep threat relying more on his ability to go up and get the ball (sounds familiar). Beasley and Hurns are both being used as possession receivers. And Swaim is becoming more and more reliable at catching the ball, demonstrating some nice ability to make something happen after the catch on his 31-yard play early in the game. Add in Elliott, and suddenly the receiving corps looks a lot more workable. Still things for the offense to work on, though.Despite the many good things, the red zone efficiency just wasn’t there, as the Cowboys had to settle three times for Brett Maher field goals when they could have gotten touchdowns. And it took a fourth-down conversion to get the one TD they did score from inside the red zone. That definitely needs some work.Third downs in general are still a bit of a problem, as they only succeeded on five of twelve. But Chris Jones only had two punts the entire game, so the problems are mostly tied to that red zone issue. If Dallas gets a handle on that, they could be very dangerous indeed.The defense, however, has some issues cropping up.There were two issues especially. The secondary flat out struggled at times. Byron Jones saw almost nothing come his way, as the Lions elected to go at Chidobe Awuzie http://www.cowboyscheapauthenticstore.com/kavon-frazier-jersey-cheap , and they unfortunately made that work for them. Anthony Brown made some significant mistakes, Jourdan Lewis just flat fell down on a play, and the safeties were out of place and taking bad angles at times, plus Jeff Heath left with a shoulder injury. The second issues was something outside of the Cowboys’ control, at least for the most part. Matthew Stafford was making some stupid good throws. Awuzie gave up a lot of completions when his coverage could not have been better, but the ball arrived at a precise spot where the receiver could gather it and Awuzie couldn’t reach it to break the pass up. Stafford completed 80% of his passes, and frankly was the better passer in the game. But it wasn’t all bad. The defense did hold the Lions under 100 yards on the ground, and DeMarcus Lawrence was just ridiculous, tallying three sacks of Stafford and leading the team in tackles with eight. Meanwhile, Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch held down things quite well in the absence of Sean Lee, with Smith even helping Lawrence on one sack by forcing Stafford to pull the ball down as he blitzed. The defense wasn’t great, especially when the Lions almost effortlessly scored the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter. But they did just enough.Finally, we may have really wronged Scott Linehan the past few weeks.The game plan was good. It is hard to find much of anything to fault the offensive coordinator this week. And that hurts for so many. The loathing of Linehan has become one of those things Dallas fans are just supposed to share in. But if you want to blame him for the different problems the offense had in the first three games, then you can either give him credit for fixing most of them, or just take your hypocritical self out of here. It really was another demonstration of the way execution by the players and the coaching are interdependent. The Cowboys started hitting on some plays, which made it easier for Linehan to pull some tricks out of his playbook, which make the players more confident, and round and round it went. If you want an example of just how he was able to throw some of those “wrinkles” onto the field, look at the touchdown pass to Swaim. The Cowboys came out in what looked like a 23 package, two backs and three tight ends. That is always a running play, especially from the one-yard line. But instead, Linehan called a play action pass and Dak hit Swaim for six. That was hardly the only example.Maybe Linehan thought he was coaching for his professional life. But it may be more likely that things just finally started to click after a lot of change in the offseason and a rough start to the season. The team still has to duplicate the success of this game for it to matter. But for now http://www.cowboyscheapauthenticstore.com/la_el-collins-jersey-cheap , Linehan may not be the disaster that so many claim.Cowboys point/counterpoint: Is the biggest problem on offense coaching or execution? Coaching or execution? For the Dallas Cowboys, that has become a raging debate. Is the impotence of the offense due to Scott Linehan’s play calling, in-game strategy, and lack of both adaptability and innovation? Or is it due to the failure of nearly every single player on the offense, with Dak Prescott just not looking like an NFL quarterback, Ezekiel Elliott cramming a season’s worth of bad mistakes into one game, the offensive line letting defenders have a free run, and the receiving corps looking like they are indeed the worst in the league?If we are trying to be rational about this, it is obviously something that involves a bit of both. But rationality be, um, danged! Michael Strawn and I are going to go all black and white on you as we try to pin down where the biggest share of blame lies.Tom: Look, concerning the offense, the only reason we are not weeping openly is that this has become a comedy of errors. Dak seems to have about five good throws in him a game. The offensive line is having real issues with Travis Frederick out and things like Tyron Smith just getting embarrassed out there. (Joe Looney has actually performed well, but him starting over Frederick is kind of like feeling pretty good about trading in your Dodge Demon for a nice Charger without the big engine. You still have a decent ride, maybe one that is still a bit fun to drive, but you left a lot of power behind.) Outside of Cole Beasley, there seems to be no chemistry or consistency anywhere in either the wide receiver or tight end groups. And I have no idea what happened to Zeke. He blew a great day running the ball with terrible blunders.How can the coaches, especially Linehan, plan anything offensively with any confidence it will work? The players have to prove they can do something right other than a handful of isolated drives. And you have to be suspicious of the reads Prescott is making. If he keeps checking down from the play Linehan wants to another two-yard throw to a stock-still Elliott with defenders closing, no play calling is going to work.Michael: Here’s what I can’t get over: the Cowboys were completely unprepared Sunday. They were sloppy and undisciplined in every phase of the game. Pre-snap penalties, missed assignments, players stepping out of bounds Cheap Terrance Williams Jersey , blown coverages, stupid penalties; these are all the signs of a poorly coached team. What’s most demoralizing to me is historically Garrett’s teams have played smart, fairly disciplined football. What is different now? What has the coaching staff been doing the entire off-season that three weeks into 2018 players don’t know where to line up, can’t stay in bounds and can’t avoid dumb penalties?I’m not focusing on scheme or play-calling (we’ll get to that), I’m talking about the culture of preparation and discipline. Because based upon what we all witnessed Sunday (and through the entire season thus far) whatever the coaching staff is doing Monday through Saturday isn’t preparing this team for Sunday.Tom: Here’s the problem I have with that. We don’t know what the coaches tried to prepare them for. They may have focused on how to handle Frank Clark all week - only to see players just run by him as he was headed in the opposite direction towards Dak. I’m fairly sure Sanjay Lal has continued to emphasize hanging onto the ball, but Michael Gallup and Zeke certainly didn’t. And I will guarantee that they are trying to get Prescott’s mechanics and processing speed better. It just isn’t taking.I also think there is now a problem with overcompensation setting in (kind like why someone buys a Demon in the first place). Some of these players look like they are trying too hard, like Tavon Austin did on the one reception where he gave up ground trying to make something happen. This roster had the look of some desperate guys, especially after Elliott’s touchdown-that-wasn’t. Throwing down that “poorly coached” card may not have any basis in what the staff is doing, which is probably much the same as it has been for the past several years.Michael: I get that players play and coaches coach and it was the player’s making mistake after mistake after mistake Sunday. But I have long believed that when enough people from a large group simultaneously fail to meet expectations there is a leadership problem. Watch the tape, Elliott had another play where he was unaware of the boundary as an outlet receiver. That makes me think it wasn’t an isolated, one-time thing but something that’s become a pattern for him. How is this not corrected on Wednesday or Thursday? You can’t tackle at practice in today’s NFL but you can run routes until Elliott should be able to do it blindfolded.Kavon Frazier is a young player who has a handful of starts at safety. He’s playing against a proven veteran quarterback. What’s he doing trying to fool Wilson? He literally lined up so far out of position he gave away a touchdown. Surely he didn’t do this on his own, right? Either way, it’s a coaching problem. Either the coaches encouraged such actions, or Frazier is unilaterally doing such things seemingly without any repercussions. I didn’t get it Sunday and nothing I’ve seen or read since makes me feel any different.Tom: Or is it players who just get confused and forget what they are supposed to do? This is a young roster, and that reliability takes some time to develop. The coaches may be trying to get more out of the players than they are able to deliver at this stage. And that might be even with the best attempts to keep things simple for them. That might be something we don’t realize on offense. They are putting predictable plays on the field because that is about all some of these players are able to manage right now. Until those players get better, we may just be stuck. And the coaches may pay despite their best efforts.Michael: I hope you’re right and this is just a hiccup and these young players won’t make such mistakes moving forward. We know for certain that when it comes to offensive schemes this staff isn’t going to innovate. Their idea of a route combination is having four receivers run verticals where the secondary waits on them to arrive. Without any creativity on offense there’s no room for errors like we saw against the Seahawks. And I’d argue the coaching staff largely made their bed here. Garrett, Linehan and Marinelli have been around for years and no doubt have a significant say in how this team was constructed. If they brought in players who not only aren’t all that talented but also can’t be disciplined, well, they deserve to go. www.nflshopoutlet.com/cincinnati-bengals